Massimo Vignelli's 1972 Subway Map

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Transcript of Massimo Vignelli's 1972 Subway Map

Massimo Vignelli's 1972 NYC Subway MapHenry BeckGeorge SalomanMilanBostonVignelli's MapKrysten Walker & Sara Van RensselaerAlthough he didn't consider himself a designer, Beck's London Underground Map design of 1933 has influenced almost every subway system map since it was published. Beck was able to use layout principles from his careeras a technical draftsman to draw the route connections like he would acircuit board. His map was able to bring order to the medieval layoutof London, allowing the map to organize the city instead of theother way around. Using color coded lines and limitinghimself to 45 and 90 degree angles only, the complexsystem was simplified to a format that was understood by all.

Noorda + VignelliMTA Today“The test of the goodness of a thing is its fitness for use. If it fails on this first test, no amount of ornamentation or finish will make it any better; it will only make it more expensive, more foolish.”--Frank Pick, London Passenger Transport Board, 1933-1940 "Good design lasts longer. Bad design is ephemeral."--Massimo Vignelli“Don’t bore the public with mysterious design.”--Bob NoordaMildred Constantine, curator for many exhibits on streets signs for the Museum of Modern Art, met Noorda and Vignelli in 1959. When the NYCTA came to her for advice on improving their signage system, she recommended Noorda and Vignelli's design firm, Unimark International. After extensive user research, they presentedtheir suggestions to the transit authority. In 1968,they were rehired to write a complete graphicsstandards manual. In the end, the MTAdidn't have unified signageuntil the late 1980's.“When I was in London, I hated the Underground map. You’d get off the subway and have no idea where you were! It was horrible.”--Kathryn Evans, raised in the NYC suburbs“Of course I know Central Park is rectangular and not square... Of course I know the park is green, and not gray. Who cares? You want to go from Point A to Point B, period. The only thing you are interested in is the spaghetti.”--Massimo VignelliIn 1971, Massimo and his wife Lella Vignelli founded their design firm in New York, Vignelli Associates. After seeing Vignelli's success with the signage system, the MTA invited him back to redesign the subway map in 1972. It was rushed into production without any consumer testing, and complaints flooded in as soon as it was sent to thepublic. Tourists couldn't understand where they were whenthey left a station, and residents didn't understand why Central Park was a square or why some lines appeared to cross at the wrong street intersections.

Boston, home to the United States' first subway system, laid the framework for the NYC subway system and for other subway systems worldwide. Milan, birthplace of Massimo Vignelli, was also the birthplace for fascism, industry, and the subway system for Italy. The center of industry in Italy, even now, was where the seeds of Bob Noorda and Massimo Vignelli's partnership were planted, as Noorda designed the signage for the Milan subway system. Today, the subway map is titled “New York City Subway, with bus and railroad connections,” which almost tells you everything you need to know about the complexity of the current map. The lines representing subway routes follow the paths with an almost absurd level of geographic accuracy. Within Central Park, there are several blue patches representing the varioussmall bodies of water inside the park. There is a unique map in every station, which include major tourist attractions, churches, businesses, and other transit connections. New Yorkersseem to cling to every bit of geography in their city,taking pride in knowing how many minutesit takes to walk from here to there.The New York subway system was chaos until 1957, when George Salomon from Appleton, Parsons & Co. approached the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) with a proposal to standardize the signage used in the subway system. While he proposed a number of ideas to improve the usability of the subway, the only idea that the NYCTA adopted was the notion of a color-coded map that drew upon the London Underground map designed by Henry Beck in the 1930s. Salomon’s map idea was implemented in 1958, 25 years after Beck’s London Underground map was introduced.

“Out of the Labyrinth: A plea and a plan for improved passenger information in the New York subways.”--The title of Saloman's paper asking for system unification“America's First Subway”--Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority